We saw the lightning and that was the guns and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped. ~Harriet Tubman

In their never ending pursuit of the real story about Scott Thomas Beauchamp (who has a disturbing past involving wanting to be a writer and once attending a pro-choice rally) truth-seeking warbloggers have turned their lonely eyes to the only man who can get to the truth: Matt Sanchez, a self-promoting donation-seeking former gay porn actor who appeared in the film Tijuana Toilet Tramps .

The list of contributors disclosed by the campaign includes the occasional bold-face name, like former senator Howard Baker, Thompson's close friend and mentor, and Doug Feith, the former Bush administration official who helped plan the Iraq War. (Both men contributed the maximum $2,300.)

Yes. The fucking stupidest guy on Earth is contributing to the fucking laziest senator on Earth.

Ever since Connecticut Democrats refused to back him for a fourth term in Congress, Joe Lieberman has been burnishing his independent credentials in the narrowly divided Senate while becoming increasingly critical of the Democratic Party on the war in Iraq.

Lieberman, the Democrats’ 2000 vice presidential nominee, insists he is not actively considering joining the Republican Party. But he is keeping that possibility wide open as his disenchantment grows with Democratic leaders. The main sticking points are their attempts to end the war in Iraq and their hesitation to take a harder line against Iran.

“I think either [Democrats] are, in my opinion, respectfully, naïve in thinking we can somehow defeat this enemy with talk, or they’re simply hesitant to use American power, including military power,” Lieberman said in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill.

“There is a very strong group within the party that I think doesn’t take the threat of Islamist terrorism seriously enough.”

More importantly, they don't take Joe Lieberman seriously. And why should they?:

Lieberman was the only non-Republican in June to vote against Democratic efforts to pass a resolution expressing no confidence on embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He has no plans to endorse a Democrat for president, including the senior senator from his home state, Christopher Dodd, and is open to backing a Republican candidate for president. Lieberman also startled Democrats when he lent his support to the re-election bid of Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a top target of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

During this month’s Iraq debate, Lieberman was working behind the scenes strategizing with Republicans and was front-and-center in several GOP press conferences denouncing Democratic tactics to push for an end to the war.

Lieberman was the lone non-Republican to vote against Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) efforts to shut down debate on an amendment to bring troops home by next April. (Reid voted against the cloture motion to file a similar motion at a later time.) Lieberman was also alone when he joined 40 Republicans in voting to kill an amendment by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) to extend the time between troop deployments in Iraq.

Long time tbogg readers may remember my Pulitzer Prize winning weekly series called America's Worst Mother™ ( samples of which can be found here, here, here, and maybe here) based upon the whimsical antics of the Gurdon family: Mummy Meghan, Daddy MostlyMissing, their daughters, Carapace, Fennel, Hesperidium, and son Megalon. Every week Meghan would delight us with her reports on the misadventures of the Gurdon clan as they maneuvered their way through another madcap day while we wondered in this was going to be the week when Meaghan finally set one of the kids on fire or, thinking she was signing Megalon up for tennis camp, instead mistakenly sold him to John Roberts wife; each column delivered in a twee Neo-Dickensian style of writing. Sadly, after giving birth to yet another little Gurdling, Baby Micturitia, Meghan called it quits and I was forced to start posting pictures of bassets on my blog in order to make a living. I mean, besides a male prostitute. That goes without saying...

Rowling Pulls It OffThe Harry Potter finale is magical, even for Muggles.

BY MEGHAN COX GURDONTuesday, July 24, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

Mrs. Gurdon reviews children's books for The Wall Street Journal.

Yes, the WSJ found a need for a children's book reviewer. And I'm sure that every bond trader in New York picks up the Journal each morning wondering if Meghan Gurdon has taken the time to review A Potty for Me!: A Lift-the-Flap Instruction Manual or My First Jumbo Book of Letters because everyone knows that the Wall Street Journal is where America turns for business financial news, personal finance, and simple colorful instructions on where to poop... besides in your pants.

As much as I was hoping to join my America-hating brethren and sistren at YearlyKos in Chicago, it's not going to happen this year. The lovely and talented Casey leaves for school in less than two weeks and we're having a going away/ early birthday party for her this weekend since she'll be an ocean away when she turns 18 on the first of September. I'll be flying over to school with her to help get her set up, take a little vacation with her in Hawaii, and then stick around to watch a few practices.

Therefore I won't be in Chicago for the burning of Bill O'Reilly in effigy at Wrigley Field. Too bad. I hear that burning loofahs throw off a lovely glow...

Chief Justice John Roberts suffered a seizure at his summer home in Maine on Monday, causing a fall that resulted in minor scrapes, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

He will remain in a hospital in Maine overnight.

[...]

Roberts had a similar episode in 1993, she said.

Doctors called Monday’s incident “a benign idiopathic seizure,” Arberg said. The White House described the January 1993 episode as an “isolated, idiosyncratic seizure.” Both descriptions indicate that doctors could not determine the seizure’s cause or link it to another medical condition. For example, doctors would have quickly ruled out simple explanations such as dehydration or low blood sugar.

Now I'm not much of a drinker, in fact I don't drink (and by 'drink' I'm talking alcohol) at all, but my understanding of the term "top shelf" is that it is a description that applies to the prestigious or more expensive brands featured high up behind the bar. So when Mike Allen writes:

Many Republicans had seen the “Law & Order” actor and former U.S. senator from Tennessee as a potential savior in a tough election cycle.

He attracted support from such top-shelf party figures as Mary Matalin, Liz Cheney, George P. Bush and other GOP stalwarts who saw him as a potential Hillary Clinton slayer.

Say what? Liz Cheney and George P. Bush? That would be Dick Cheney's NotLesbian (as far as we know) daughter and The Stalker Bush.

It's becoming more and more apparent that the Republican's bench is pretty darn empty... which also explains the whole Thompson phenomena now that I think of it.

In short order both Rosses were working in Charlotte, North Carolina, for U.S. Surgical (now part of Tyco Healthcare), which eventually grew into a billion-dollar enterprise marketing surgical staplers. Judi was excellent at her work, and earned $40,000 a year by the late 70s. But problems arose when animal-rights groups began investigating the way the company sold its products—problems recently pointed out by the New York press. U.S. Surgical used dogs in demonstrations to doctors and hospitals as part of its marketing plan.

"Every salesperson at U.S. Surgical was trained for six weeks with dogs at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, and that was really brutal," explains a former employee. "They spent days and days with dogs, taking out the spleen or stomach or the lobe of a lung. Then if the dog started moaning or fidgeted, whoever was closest would push more sedative into him from the syringe. It was horrible. Then the dog would be killed with potassium chloride."

After training, the salespeople marketed the staplers to doctors, and, once again, in many cases large dogs were used, as they had organs comparable in size to those possessed by humans. "After the stapling, sometimes they'd put a big clamp above and below the staple lines of the dog, and fill [the area] with lots of fluid," the ex-employee says. "It would fill up like a balloon, and the salesperson would say to the doctor, 'See—it doesn't leak!' That's how they marketed and sold the product." (Some years ago, former C.E.O. Leon Hirsch defended the company's practice of using dogs, claiming that there was no proper substitute.)

WABC radio host Ron Kuby, a lawyer and severe Giuliani critic, marvels at the campaign's sublime lack of preparation for the storm of fury that greeted the dog issue, in April. "Think of all the hacks and politicos who sit down and they say to Judi, 'O.K., we've gone through your background, husbands, etc.,'" he muses. "'Is there any other thing in your background, some crazy little thing, that might catch someone's attention?' It's at that point you should raise your hand and say, 'Oh, you mean when I was killing puppies?'"

But for some reason the campaign entered the ring gloveless. "I wouldn't dignify it with a comment" was Giuliani's reply when asked about the use of dogs.

Although I wouldn't put this in Michael Vick territory, I think I could make a pretty good campaign issue out of this one.

Actually the whole article is going to haunt the Giuliani campaign, like a shitting setter strapped to the top of the car.

Hugh Hewitt explains how a scrappy little hockey team kept a dispirited America from chasing a handful of sleeping pills with vodka and instead turned its life around and won the Cold War and Peggy Noonan's heart:

Almost 27 years ago, in one of the more improbable moments in sports, a scrappy group of college kids in Lake Placid did the unthinkable, which was beat the Russian team, a team that was bigger, stronger, and much more experienced than the United States squad. But it turned out to be much more than a hockey game, although not many people at the time realized the impact of it.

As detailed in the very fine documentary Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team, the United States was at the height of the Cold War in 1980, had just suffered through four years of near-ruinous Jimmy Carter economics, and a foreign policy that had no answer for the Iran hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The country was, by and large, in a funk. Hockey had never been as big across the country as baseball, basketball and football, but seeing our kids take on the dreaded Soviet squad, beating them, and then going on to win the gold medal had an effect on our national psyche. It was a shot in the arm of national pride that was one of those intangible elements that helped us transition from the malaise of the 70’s to the prosperity of the 80’s under Ronald Reagan. We can only hope that what took place earlier today in Jakarta will give Iraq the same shot in the arm it so desperately needs.

Of course, what Hugh is alluding to is the death of disco in the Middle East; disco being the real crisis of the 70's, bringing America to its knees and ruining an otherwise nice pair of Angel Flight pants.

But not really.

No, Hugh finally found some Muslims he can tolerate for a few hours and jumps on the bandwagon to celebrate Iraqs big soccer win in the Asian Cup; an event that Hugh normally wouldn't have a clue about, like so many other things that never penetrate his bubble-world of Republican fascism, Catholicism, and where to get a good man-bra that doesn't chafe.

I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said hat today has been as exciting as one of those election days in Baghdad. Our national soccer team is playing for the Asian cup for the first time in its history. By comparison this is as if the American team is playing for the cup of Copa America against the team of Brazil or Argentina! But of course here in Iraq we care way more about soccer than Americans do. No offense meant of course!

And none taken! You like soccer and we like invading countries, killing their leaders and converting their people to Christianity. As we used to say in the seventies: different strokes for different brown people who will burn in hell for worshiping their mud-god.

But back to Iraq:

6:30…

No, the joy is not for "no matter what"….Our team has just won the Asian cup for the first time in our soccer history. The win came through a magnificent goal by the head of our heroic forward Younis Mahmoud at the 71st minute of the match.. Our team ruled the game by all standards; in defense, midfield and attack our players proven that they are the best…they are now the masters of Asian soccer!

Today is definitely the happiest day for Iraqis in years.

If you find it hard to imagine that this was "the happiest day for Iraqis in years' just take a look at Iraqi life between 2pm and 4:30 that same day:

2:00 pm…

I went out in the early afternoon to bring some food and gasoline for the generator as I had only a few liters left in the generator's tank and I didn't want to take chances. I found that small crowds have gathered around gas vendors, obviously the demand is higher today and no one seems willing to miss part of the match because of a stupid gallon of gas. As a result gas price rocketed to more than 4 dollars a gallon; that's a 30 % increase from just two days ago.

Curfew was imposed at 4 in the afternoon and will last until tomorrow morning but in fact the streets were going to be empty even without a curfew.

Everyone seemed in a hurry buying what they need to before they all go home to sit in front of the TV sets. I returned home, filled all three generators with gasoline just in case one of them fails us, which is something that happens quite often. I also put several cans of beer in the fridge and brought some Pringles chips. The ultimate snack when watching soccer, or pretty much everything!

The good surprise came at 4:30 when the state electricity came after two days of absence; I assume it's a small "gift" from the government and the electricity department.

When we last left the Five Brothers Craig was talkin' Mexican, reluctant AlbinoBen had disappeared, Tagg, (who always seems to be around his dad, smiling and doing that crazy eye thing) was missing, Matt was showing off pictures of his parents dancing (thereby losing the Baptist vote), and Josh's wife was redecorating the MittMobile, making it the VomitVehicle.

This week....

Hey! Where the hell did everyone go?

Well, Matt uses Politico to keep track of how many times Democratic candidates mention his Dad at the debate and how, if it was a drinking game, Matt would be soooooo wasted, but he's not because alcohol is a sin and people who drink, like George W. Bush and Ann Althouse are going to Hell. Or Orem. One of those.

Meanwhile Josh&Jen continue their whirlwind "99 Counties But A Bitch Ain't One" tour of Iowa with stops by a sign, another sign, a county fair (where Josh&Jen bought the kids some fried sugar and then Jen threw up again), and a drugstore where Josh used Grace to break in to get Jen some Pepto.

As for the other boys, well it looks like Mitt had to let them go because they were dragging the campaign down and he needed to lighten up the load.

I had heard that Fred Thompson was going to pick one or two of them up on waivers but he didn't have the money. The good news is that Mike Huckabee is holding auditions for a new campaign son since the old one isn't working out.

'Tagg Huckabee'. I like that. I think he'll work out as long as he doesn't dance because then he would be going to Hell. Or Arkansas. One of those.

A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.

The report described the link between poverty and poor health, urged the U.S. government to help combat widespread diseases as a key aim of its foreign policy, and called on corporations to help improve health conditions in the countries where they operate. A copy of the report was obtained by The Washington Post.

Three people directly involved in its preparation said its publication was blocked by William R. Steiger, a specialist in education and a scholar of Latin American history whose family has long ties to President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Since 2001, Steiger has run the Office of Global Health Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Richard H. Carmona, who commissioned the "Call to Action on Global Health" while serving as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, recently cited its suppression as an example of the Bush administration's frequent efforts during his tenure to give scientific documents a political twist. At a July 10 House committee hearing, Carmona did not cite Steiger by name or detail the report's contents and its implications for American public health.

Carmona told lawmakers that, as he fought to release the document, he was "called in and again admonished . . . via a senior official who said, 'You don't get it.' " He said a senior official told him that "this will be a political document, or it will not be released."

After a long struggle that pitted top scientific and medical experts inside and outside the government against Steiger and his political bosses, Carmona refused to make the requested changes, according to the officials. Carmona engaged in similar fights over other public health reports, including an unpublished report on prison health. A few days before the end of his term as the nation's senior medical officer, he was abruptly told he would not be reappointed.

In a leaked confidential letter to the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Lee Jong-Wook, the US government has rejected decades of nutritional research and denied that there is any evidence of a link between junk food and obesity. The letter, from William R Steiger, special assistant at the Department of Health and Human Services and godson to George Bush Sr, is the United States' official response to an April 2003 report by the WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). That report, entitled "Diet, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases," argues that governments should take steps to limit children's exposure to junk-food advertising, and says that added sugar should comprise no more than 10% of a healthy diet.

The report was released last spring, prompting American food manufacturers' groups to begin frantic lobbying in Washington. The Sugar Association wrote to Gro Harlem Brundtland, then WHO director-general, threatening to "exercise every avenue available to expose the dubious nature" of the report. Congressmen recruited by the food industry urged the Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson, to cut off the $406 million annual US contribution to the WHO.

[...]

The leaked letter says the WHO/FAO report fails to meet the standards of the US Data Quality Act, lacks external peer review and mixes science and policymaking in the same exercise. "Whenever you hear the government or the industry talking about scientific rigour," says Professor Nestle, "it's code for self-interest. It reminds me of the obfuscating tactics of the tobacco industry."

Mr Steiger's letter questions the scientific basis for "the linking of fruit and vegetable consumption to decreased risk of obesity and diabetes." He adds: "There is an unsubstantiated focus on 'good' and 'bad' foods and a conclusion that specific foods are linked to non-communicable diseases and obesity... The assertion that heavy marketing of energy-dense foods or fast-food outlets increases the risk of obesity is supported by almost no data." The letter also criticises "the identification of adverse economic status, especially in women, as a causative factor in obesity," despite research that has consistently shown poor Americans are fatter than rich ones.

"Most of the WHO/FAO report is actually rather banal," says Professor Nestle. "The science is no different from dozens of previous reports by national governments. What annoys the industry is that it also contains concrete recommendations for actually doing something about the problem." Indeed, Mr Steiger's letter complains that "scientists should review and evaluate the available science without regard to policy decisions."

The letter provoked a robust response from Professor Kaare Norum, senior scientist of the WHO's obesity campaign. In a letter to US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson, he accused the US government of making the health of millions of young Americans "a hostage to fortune" as a result of its links to business, particularly the sugar lobby.

...and for his good work mixing politics with people's health, Steiger gets this.

I picture you behind a wall of glassObstructed view, I can't get passedDon't wake me up, don't drag me downJust lead me through uncharted groundWhere is my concentrationWhere is my self-controlTorn by constant fascination

I'm built for you, you're built for meConstructed from the same fantasyI'm built for you, you're built for meTurn my obsession to reality

Before the sun comes up each dayI jump on-line and hit eBay®Surfing for something else to buyTo make the perfect human eyeLosing my concentrationLosing my self-controlI'll never lose the fascination

I need the troubleshooting guide to this systemI need extreme supportFor this out of control life - my life

You're stuck on StupidYou're stuck on no WMDYou're stuck on blame AmericaYou're stuck on Bush lied, kids died

I've heard you listening to algore and fahrenheitI knew our days were numberedWhen you made me take you to that global warming movie last nightDon't say that I can't see the other sideWell I do, and I see traitorsYour lifetime moveon membership gives you away

Recent books and studies seem to indicate disturbing sexual trends among evangelical Christians. And this time we're not talking about their pastors or political leaders. The new attention is on evangelical teenagers, who reportedly start sex earlier than their mainline Protestant peers.

One gleeful headline on an Internet site recently read: "Evangelical Girls Are Easy." That is not the way I remember it.

It's been a long time since I've had to invoke this, but he we go again.

Tbogg's First Law:

Some people choose abstinence. Others have it chosen for them.

Yes, I know, it's hard to believe that no young lady ever fell for Gerson's "bad boy image", but there you have it...

Bob Owens, the Confederate Yankee, (who can't serve in Iraq because he's got that bad knee, doncha know) is serving his country the best he knows how by poring over Scott Thomas Beauchamp's writings looking for anything to, hmmmm, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, "fuck him over":

In addition to his short-lived career as a probable fabulist in The New Republic, Scott Thomas Beauchamp's blog has turned up a self-incriminating clear violation of operational security:

Another long day...cleaning an M16, landscaping, dipping Pro Masks (gas masks to civilians) into strange concotions, a little bit of office work...basically a hodpodge of menially tasks to keep me busy. We finally got official dates on Iraq deployment: May 15 - Our Bradleys get shipped to Kuwaite June 11- Advanced Units move in June 28 - Bravo Team, second squad, first platoon, Alpha Company, first battalion, 18th brigade, first infantry division (the breakdown of who I belong to) deploys. Were probably going to sit in Kuwaite for some unknown amount of time, and then move into Baghdad...

That post is over a year old and was obsoleted be a changed deployment schedule, but the facts are clear: Beauchamp clearly violated operational security regulations by posting the deployment schedule for his unit to his blog.

Major Kirk Luedeke, PAO for 4th IBCT, 1st ID at FOB Falcon, stated in response to my inquiry about this blog entry:

Oh sure, I could spend the rest of the evening going from wingnut blog to wingnut blog and read their complaints about how Scott Thomas Beauchamp called them chickenhawks (though he didn't, but nonetheless they're pretty sensitive about that word) but Jon Swift has done all of the hard work.

The amusing ones are the bloggers who think that Beauchamp signed up to go to Iraq just to become a writer. Something that they never considered.

It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery ofa travesty of two mockeries of a sham.

Normally one would advise Jonah Goldberg to quit while he's ahead, but then Jonah has never been ahead in his life so it would only confuse him. And so he goes:

Mark – I’m getting similar email. I’d add a few points. First, I stand by my criticism of the guy. Boasting about how you and your buddies mock disfigured women, wear baby skulls as party hats and hunt dogs for sport and then taking offense when people don’t think you’re as much of a jerk as you put on is hardly a winning stance in my book.

ATTN: SUPERDOME RESIDENTS [Jonah Goldberg]I think it’s time to face facts. That place is going to be a Mad Max/thunderdome Waterworld/Lord of the Flies horror show within the next few hours. My advice is to prepare yourself now. Hoard weapons, grow gills and learn to communicate with serpents. While you’re working on that, find the biggest guy you can and when he’s not expecting it beat him senseless. Gather young fighters around you and tell the womenfolk you will feed and protect any female who agrees to participate without question in your plans to repopulate the earth with a race of gilled-supermen. It’s never too soon to be prepared.

I note that the second post on a blog believed to be Beauchamp's, the soldier notes "I'm reading On The Road again." Amazon.com notes that this book "is not only the soul of the Beat movement and literature, but one of the most important novels of the century. Like nearly all of Kerouac's writing, On The Road is thinly fictionalized autobiography, filled with a cast made of Kerouac's real life friends, lovers, and fellow travelers."

And, now, President Bush explains how Washington works. In a speech in Nashville last week, Bush said this of folks in Congress: "They ought not to be trying to slip special spending measures in there without full transparency and full debate -- those are called entitlements." Actually, those are called earmarks. Entitlements are things such as Social Security, Medicare and so on.

When we last left Dean he was blaming Baby Boomers like his bosses for losing the Vietnam War; something that may or may not come up during his annual review.

Today he holds General David Petraeus up to the light and compares him to a perjurer who secretly sold weapons to one terrorist nation and then laundered the money in order to give it to group trying to overthrow the government of another country.

I think it's safe to say that General Petraeus needs Barnett's help in much the same way that Lindsay Lohan needs another drink...

So she's an ambitious little filly, that one is. And given the fact that Fred has a bit of a history as (as they call them in South) a lazybones:

Does Fred Thompson have what it takes to be president? The former senator turned "Law & Order" actor, who launched an exploratory committee last week, has been dogged by rumors that he doesn't have the work ethic for a long campaign. "The book on him is he's lazy," David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union, said last week. The criticism seems fed by Thompson's time in the Senate, where he maintained a less rigorous schedule than his colleagues and was known to duck out of late-night debates. Of the 90 bills he introduced during his eight years in the Senate, only four became law.

Thompson has never denied being irritated with the pace of Senate life and cited it as one of the reasons he opted out of a 2002 re-election bid. "I don't like spending 14- and 16-hour days voting on 'sense of the Senate' resolutions on irrelevant matters," he said in 1998. "There are some important things we really need to get on with—and on a daily basis, it's very frustrating." His 2008 competitors have privately questioned his endurance, with one rival consultant (anonymous so as not to reflect badly on his own man) telling NEWSWEEK, "I doubt he has the fire in the belly to compete."

...it's starting to look like Jeri may be the one who is stoking the fire down below. So to speak...

Maybe Jeri Thompson is a new breed of First Lady Wannabes (picture her and Judith Giuliani having a catfight over the First Lady Tiara) ; a genetically engineered fusion of Mrs. Johnny Iselin's cold-blooded political ambition (from The Manchurian Candidate) combined with the "charms" of an octogenarian-marrying Anna Nicole Smith.

The Attorney General of the United States goes before a Senate Committee and puts on the worst performance of any Attorney General since, well actually, his last appearance and what are the fans of this Administration talking about?

I've never been a fan of Alberto Gonzales, mostly because he isn't very conservative. But, reading this Associated Press account of his appearance today before the Senate Judiciary Committee--perhaps the world's number one center of ill-founded self-righteousness--it's hard not to be sympathetic

It must be very strange to be President Bush Alberto Gonzales. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile

One wonders how many nights, as John Hinderaker falls asleep, his last waking thought is "I am such a fucking tool...zzzzzzzzzz"

I agree that the Biden response to the gun-toting You-Tuber was revealing--it showed Biden lacks even moderately calibrated snap judgment--and it was revealing in a way that a) wouldn't have happened with a non-YouTube debate, in which the questioner most likely wouldn't have gotten past security, let alone the screeners, and b) reflected Biden's alleged fatal flaw (or one of his several alleged fatal flaws), namely his cringe-making, unhinged spontaneous reactions. (See also: "I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do").

The video:

Yes, I can understand how comfortable Mickey might feel living next door to Jered from Michigan. who appears to be the posterchild for "He Was Kind of Quiet and Stayed To Himself Mostly".

Munchausen syndrome is a type of factitious disorder, or mental illness, in which a person repeatedly acts as if he or she has a physical or mental disorder when, in truth, they have caused the symptoms. People with factitious disorders act this way because of an inner need to be seen as ill or injured, not to achieve a concrete benefit, such as financial gain. They are even willing to undergo painful or risky tests and operations in order to get the sympathy and special attention given to people who are truly ill. Munchausen syndrome is a mental illness associated with severe emotional difficulties.

Althousen Syndrome is a type of factitious disorder, or mental illness, in which a person repeatedly acts as if he or she has been unfairly maligned when, in truth, they merely seek attention. People with factitious disorders act this way because of an inner need to be seen as "put upon" or aggrieved, in order to draw unsuspecting people into their "vortex", a state of delusional self-satisfaction. They are even willing to undergo mocking or public humiliation in order to get the sympathy and special attention usually given to people who are much more interesting. The warning signs of Althousen Syndrome include the following:

According to Howard Kurtz, smarmy genocidal fantasist Bill Kristol is on his way to Iraq where, you can bet, he'll spend a few days in the Green Zone talking to "our boys" before heading back to the Fox studios and presenting his safe return as evidence that things are going incredibly well over there.

These are sad days for the culture warriors on the right. Not content to poke them in the eye by Al Goreing Jack Bauer on 24, their favoritist show ever, Fox now knees them in the groin by selecting the next President of the United States of 24... and it's going to be a woman.

While voters will likely have to wait until February 2008 to learn the winners of the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries, there is no question a woman will be the commander-in-chief in prime-time Monday nights.

When the thriller “24” returns for its seventh season in January 2008, actress Cherry Jones will occupy the Oval Office playing President Allison Taylor. Fox made the announcement Sunday at the Television Critics Association tour in Los Angeles. The network did not announce any details about the character, her politics or the occupation (or former occupation) of her spouse.

At this rate, losing both the will and stomach to watch 24 will reduce their somewhat barren lives to hours spent repeatedly watching Red Dawn, manually stimulating their Play-Doh and bacon "girlfriends" , and jacking off into Sgt Rock comics.

Boys... boys... Can't we all get along and fight America's real enemies, like baby-killing Democrats?

At which point, if this was during the regular workday week at The Corner, Jonah would be showing up right about now with a link to a cool website that teaches you how to make better armpit fart noises.

My Vice President, My SociopathLeroy the Masochist: I like fights, I've dove through windows, I've eatenlight bulbs, I like sharks, any kind of blood. If you gave me a gun,I'd shoot you in the face just to see what it looked like when the bullet hit.

You won't find a psychological explanation in Hayes's new book. A writer for the conservative Weekly Standard, Hayes is largely uncritical and essentially buys into the picture of Cheney-as-Stoic, a throwback to an ancient Greek warrior who can see the Fates gathering but grimly and bravely soldiers on. Hayes recounts a scene told to him by David Bohrer, the vice president's official photographer, about Cheney at a Secret Service test-driving track in Beltsville, Md. The Secret Service was teaching Cheney how to drive to evade terrorists by executing a "J-turn." Cheney, who had not driven a car in about two years, jammed the Chevy Camaro into reverse, hit the accelerator until he was going about 40 miles an hour, then slammed on the brakes in order to spin the car a full 180 degrees. Bohrer had mounted a camera on the windshield to record Cheney's face. The veep was expressionless throughout. "It was as if he was taking a Sunday drive," Bohrer told Hayes.

Intelligence officials often talk about the importance of preparing for "worst-case scenarios." Cheney seems to have always been ready for the worst. Maybe he learned not to count on good fortune after he lost his scholarship to Yale. Kicked out a second time, Cheney drifted back to Wyoming and was twice arrested for drunken driving. Hayes reports that Cheney always felt a sense of loyalty to Donald Rumsfeld because Rumsfeld persuaded President Gerald Ford to overlook Cheney's youthful indiscretions when Cheney was under consideration to succeed Rumsfeld as White House chief of staff. It was during the Ford years that Cheney first began worrying about "continuity of government" questions—what happens if the top of the American government is "decapitated." The nuclear threat of the cold war and two unsuccessful assassination attempts on President Ford explain some of Cheney's early preoccupation, but not all of it. At the same time, Cheney first embraced his belief in asserting executive power—the need for a strong president to rescue the country during crisis.

# Manipulative and CunningThey never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.

# Pathological LyingHas no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests.

# Lack of Remorse, Shame or GuiltA deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, they have victims and accomplices who end up as victims. The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.

# Shallow EmotionsWhen they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.

# Incapacity for Love

# Callousness/Lack of EmpathyUnable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.

# Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive NatureRage and abuse, alternating with small expressions of love and approval produce an addictive cycle for abuser and abused, as well as creating hopelessness in the victim. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others.

# Early Behavior Problems/Juvenile DelinquencyUsually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet "gets by" by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc.

# Irresponsibility/UnreliabilityNot concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed.

Well it's been another week of thrills, spills, and chills with the Romney boys. First, Tom Brady-lookalike Craig headed down to Miami to speak with some of the locals using their crazy moonman language:

Here are some pictures from a recent trip to Miami. I had live interviews with 3 Spanish-language radio stations. I was able to do the interviews in Spanish thanks to the time I spent living in Chile.

Thus costing Mitt the Malkin vote. I mean, Jesus, those people have been here like fifty years and they still haven't learned the language? And since they came from a Communist country they're probably sleeper cell terrorists. Why is no one in Florida keeping their eye on them? Are there no Juan Does?

Moving on, Josh Romney takes his kids where every kid wants to spend their vacation: DisneylandIowa.

After a great vacation in New Hampshire with the family, Jen and I took the kids to Iowa to visit a few more counties. Unfortunately, they cancelled two flights on us and we ended up spending the Tuesday night in Chicago.

[...]

This was Jen's first official tour in the Mitt Mobile so I wanted to make it as comfortable as possible for her. However, apparently I can't drive straight because all of my swerving made her car sick.

One thing you have to say about the Romneys, they don't travel well. If it's not a setter shitting off the car roof, it's a wife blowing Postum out the window. My advice in case you find the MittMobile traveling in front of you: stay back 200 feet.

Matt Romney reports from the family compound where an obviously boozed-up Mitt drunkenly"freaks" with Ann while the grandchildren reenact their favorite scenes from Coyote Ugly. Later, after sedating the kids by encouraging them to play 'tea party" and then providing them with Nyquil, the adults head out for a night on the town

Finally, since we were all together last week, we got a rare opportunity to go out to dinner together... without the kids. (Ben and his wife couldn't make it).

We have a great history of pulling pranks on each other in the family. This past weekend Ron Kaufman, one of our campaign advisors, and I short-sheeted my parents bed while they were downstairs hosting a barbecue (click here for the definition of short-sheeting if you aren't familiar). That night I could hear my mom laughing as she was the unlucky one who got into bed first.

The again maybe she was laughing at "Little Willard".

Today we will be marriedAnd all the freaks that she knows will be thereAnd all the people from the village will be thereTo congratulate usI will carry her across the thresholdI will make dim the lightI will attempt to spend my love within herBut though I try with all my mightShe will laugh at my mighty swordShe will laugh at my mighty swordWhy must everybody laugh at my mighty sword?Lord, hep me if you willMaybe we're both crazy, I don't knowMaybe that's why I love her so

Dear Pentagon, I never though this would happen to me -More letters to Pentagon Forum

In this Very Special episode, written by the love child of Victor Davis Hanson and Tacitus, a young soldier encounters a older vet in a bar and they share a tender moment:

I went to a bar not to long after my twenty first birthday earlier this year, and got involved in a conversation with a man in his early 80's. He had been coming to this bar for years, and he noted of how 'soft' the new people were that now filled it's stools. The bar was full of forty-something townies and such. He picked me out as a military type (ROTC, commissioning next year) right away and struck up a conversation. Maybe it was me being so much younger, maybe it was the shave and haircut; I'll never know. He had felt a dismay at leaving the military, retiring as a senior NCO in the Army. He feared that the country was at risk by the softness of the generation that followed him and felt as if he was abandoning his post to someone not able to guard it. He was of course generalizing, but felt strongly about it. After an hour of fascinating conversation about his time in France and later Korea, we parted ways.

I could tell he was upset by all the reflection going on, so on the way out, I asked him is he was good to go. He looked at me and asked "I don't know; should I be?"

I told him "You've helped to built the wall on which you stood for so long. Your blood, sweat, and essence courses through it's grout and stone. It's battered and bruised, especially in the last few years, but it stands. Sir, it's time for you to rest and stay warm in the blanket you've laid over the country; I've got your post. You're relieved... get some chow and rest."

I shook his hand and he started to tear up. he said "You've got the post. I've been waiting for years to hear that, and until now, I didn't know if it was true. Thank you, I know we'll be safe if there's many more like you around, no matter how uppity you young folks can talk sometimes" with a wink, and walked off.

That's why I'm still here, and that's why this Generation will be strong.

We'll never be the greatest generation, but damn it, we'll do what needs to be done.

Though Bolton supported the Vietnam War, he declined to enter combat duty, instead enlisting in the National Guard and attending law school after his 1970 graduation. "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy," Bolton wrote of his decision in the 25th reunion book. "I considered the war in Vietnam already lost."

I guess it is no surprise that someone who is as consistently wrong as Bill Kristol would actually commission an article from someone who is as consistently stupid as Dean Barnett. For those unfamiliar with Barnett, he's been described as Hugh Hewitt's "right hand man" which, in a similar industry, is commonly referred to as a "fluffer". Had you to bet your house during the 2006 election based upon Barnett's predictions, you'd probably be living in a refrigerator box in the alley right now. But that kind of wrongness must be appealing to Bill Kristol, possibly because he sees a little bit of himself in Barnett. The part that is both consistently wrong and stupid.

All of which would explain Barnett's cover story in Kristol's Weekly Standard; a magazine best described as wingnut welfare-subsidized whacking material for neocons. In an effort to pay tribute to those boys Over There who are fighting and dying in Bill Kristol's Wet Dream War, Barnett seeks to contrast their courage against an entire generation of strawmen:

In the 1960s, history called the Baby Boomers. They didn't answer the phone.

Confronted with a generation-defining conflict, the cold war, the Boomers--those, at any rate, who came to be emblematic of their generation--took the opposite path from their parents during World War II. Sadly, the excesses of Woodstock became the face of the Boomers' response to their moment of challenge. War protests where agitated youths derided American soldiers as baby-killers added no luster to their image.

Few of the leading lights of that generation joined the military. Most calculated how they could avoid military service, and their attitude rippled through the rest of the century. In the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, military service didn't occur to most young people as an option, let alone a duty.

But now, once again, history is calling. Fortunately, the present generation appears more reminiscent of their grandparents than their parents.

Excuse me but, as my grandmother used to say: what the fuck?

First off, Barnett takes an entire generation, generally considered to be those born between 1944 and 1964, and decides that the dirty fucking hippies are "emblematic" of every single one of the 76 million Americans born during that period. Now, of course, he's not counting the almost three million Americans who served in Viet Nam, and certainly not the 58,000 Americans who died there . So what we end up with is roughly 73 million cowardly bastards who refused to answer the bell; dirty hippies one and all who spit on soldiers and called them baby killers. But that's silly. Obviously, they weren't all hippies and, to refute that absurd idea, context is called for. The kind of context like you may find here using the Few Bad Apples Defense :

To provide necessary context, I have to once again list the tales told in TNR’s controversial story. If you already have the potential tall tales committed to memory, feel free to skip the rest of this paragraph. The soldiers in the story humiliate a woman in a military dining hall who has been disfigured in an IED explosion; they discover human remains and one private spends a day and night playing around with a child's skull ("which even had chunks of hair"), amusing his fellow soldiers; and one private routinely drives a Bradley Fighting Vehicle recklessly and uses the vehicle to kill stray dogs My summary, which was basically stolen from Bill Kristol’s summary of the TNR story, makes the piece sound more benign than it really is.

Repeatedly, both on the air and in print, I said that even if The New Republic’s story turns out to be accurate right down to every last detail, the magazine’s publication of the piece without putting the reported misdeeds in the context of the 160,000 soldiers in Iraq who are performing their duties honorably is unconscionable. The New Republic ran a story that stated directly that war does awful things to men’s souls. The unmistakable implication of the “Diarist” (as The New Republic calls such reports) is that what the story reported wasn’t isolated incidents, but rather a common and predictable effect of war, especially one started by George W. Bush.

That would be Dean again.

One might say that the "unmistakable implication" of Dean's Weekly Standard cover story is that all of the baby boomers are tainted by the unconscionable acts of the dirty fucking draft-dodging military-hating Commie-loving hippies and thank God for this generation of selfless conservative realists who are fighting Them over there so that we don't have to fight Them over here ( a concept once called the Domino Theory, starring America the Land of the Free as the last domino, for those of you old enough to remember). Of course, with a little research, Dean might have discovered the Real 9/11 Generation who are all about fighting Them over there so we don't have to fight Them over here...

...as long as someone else is doing the fighting.

In all fairness Dean is not entirely wrong about how a few of the leading lights of the Baby Boomer generation chose to avoid duty when history came a'knockin', and how their attitude towards military service came to infect a generation of Young Republicans, as seen above . In fact, you can find a few of the culprits right here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and especially here .

The power of puppies and guiltStarving bloggers makes the Baby Satchmo cry

First off, I want to thank John from Bethesda for sending the Wynton Marsalis Live At the Village Vanguard CD set. I shall listen to it while wearing a black suit and oversized black Wayfarers, while snapping my fingers in a white boys loose approximation of keeping time. Then I will drag myself through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry latte... because that's how I roll.

But enough about me.

As you may be aware, many of the really good bloggers that you see listed on the left...no... your other left... Jesus... anyway a bunch of those bloggers don't have a real paying job like I do (not to mention the royalties I collect every time someone uses the phrase "stupid fucking tourists". Eighteen cents a pop. Thank you ASCAP!) and as Atrios mentioned the other day, ads that help keep these bloggers alive and painfully sincere about the plight of others are becoming few and far between. Therefore, on the blogs that you do read daily while pretending to work (because reading blogs at work is a fun way to stick it to the man and besides, sometimes there are boobies) think about dropping something into their tip jar or clicking on their ads. Every penny that goes to them doesn't go to Halliburton or Scott Stapp.

Remember, they are doing this for you and you should be feeling guilty about that because to be a liberal is to feel guilty about something.

Washington in the 1950s was a pretty wonderful place to be. It seems in almost everyone's memoirs, certainly this one, to have been the last time Washington was fun. It was "shabbier and less pretentious" than today, but it was also an easier place, a more human one, in part, apparently, because everyone in the White House, on the Hill, and in the newspaper bureaus was drunk. (In fact, that would explain the '50s, wouldn't it?) In the Washington young Mr. Novak enters, senators plot over whiskey and cigars; reporters knock back scotches while trading tidbits at the press-club bar; lunches with sources begin with doubles; the Senate majority leader is soused in the lobby, singing to himself. Beehived women chain-smoke with the boys and listen to their tales of woe.

Later, Peggy breaks into song

The part about Reagan dying and how she thought she would die also is quite moving.

I’m not sure if she qualifies for a mention here but I know they love her over at Gawker — Dawn Eden, everyone’s favorite bornagain virgin and fired NY Post writer, having recently moved from NY to DC to become the director of the “Love and Responsibility Program” at the Cardinal Newman Society (this info courtesy of her blog) (I guess the book sales from “The Thrill of the Chaste” started to peter out and who else but the Catholics will pay you NOT to have sex?). Anyway I saw her looking short and somewhat dumpy on K street between 15th and 16th, ostensibly about to cross the street to go to that huge scary Catholic “bookstore” I’ve never seen anyone go into. She needs some new highlights. Welcome to DC Dawn; it’s way harder to find a good hairstylist than a virgin round these parts.

If this was on the front page of the WaPo or even on the editorial pages I think everyone might have a legitimate complaint, but it was in the Arts and Living section and Givhan is, after all, the fashion editor. One reads Givhan for her social commentary on fashion and she is quite good at it. From her greatest hit:

There they were -- John, Jane, Josie and Jack -- standing with the president and before the entire country. The nominee was in a sober suit with the expected white shirt and red tie. His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy in pastel hues -- like a trio of Easter eggs, a handful of Jelly Bellies, three little Necco wafers. There was tow-headed Jack -- having freed himself from the controlling grip of his mother -- enjoying a moment in the spotlight dressed in a seersucker suit with short pants and saddle shoes. His sister, Josie, was half-hidden behind her mother's skirt. Her blond pageboy glistened. And she was wearing a yellow dress with a crisp white collar, lace-trimmed anklets and black patent-leather Mary Janes.

[...]

The wife wore a strawberry-pink tweed suit with taupe pumps and pearls, which alone would not have been particularly remarkable, but alongside the nostalgic costuming of the children, the overall effect was of self-consciously crafted perfection. The children, of course, are innocents. They are dressed by their parents. And through their clothes choices, the parents have created the kind of honeyed faultlessness that jams mailboxes every December when personalized Christmas cards arrive bringing greetings "to you and yours" from the Blake family or the Joneses. Everyone looks freshly scrubbed and adorable, just like they have stepped from a Currier & Ives landscape.

[...]

Dressing appropriately is a somewhat selfless act. It's not about catering to personal comfort. One can't give in fully to private aesthetic preferences. Instead, one asks what would make other people feel respected? What would mark the occasion as noteworthy? What signifies that the moment is bigger than the individual?

But the Roberts family went too far. In announcing John Roberts as his Supreme Court nominee, the president inextricably linked the individual -- and his family -- to the sweep of tradition. In their attire, there was nothing too informal; there was nothing immodest. There was only the feeling that, in the desire to be appropriate and respectful of history, the children had been costumed in it.

As someone who has worked in the fashion industry and still does in a tangential way, what people wear, and how they wear it, really does say a great deal about them. Like it or not, image, while not everything, owns the lions share of the publics perception of candidates, and what that candidate wears is the primary signifier. That's why everything from a red tie with a proper knot to a flight suit (flashing a little codpiece) is carefully stage-managed to convey the proper image. The hard part for most politicians (and I'm mainly talking men here) is the transition from generic Senatorial (the no-brainer dark grey suit, white shirt, splash-of-color-tie) to the casual (jeans and button-down shirt screams"I can't let go of the trappings of power!"). Part of the problem is body type; no matter how big of a suit that you put on Denny Hastert he still looks like a sausage about to burst out of its casing. When he is casual, it's worse. On the other hand Mitt Romney is the very model of the modern major executive, but in informal settings he can't seem to lose the starch and you get the feeling that he has someone iron his jeans for a perfect crease. This coveys an image of ingratiating artificiality and people pick up on that which is why he is most often compared to a game show host. As for Hillary Clinton, she's the first serious national candidate for the presidency and the fashion rules for female candidates haven't been written yet. This is a topic that Givhan is good at, Maureen Dowd - not so much, Chris Matthews - not at all.

Flashing a little bit of national exposure political cleavage is something new...if you discount that time Denny Hastert left a few to many buttons undone.